GOOD balance is as important as strong muscles in preventing age-related falls. Balance exercises are best done before strength training to reduce fatigue and the risk of falling. Here is some balance basics:
Tandem Walking (heel-to-toe-walking)
Walk for 3-4 m, placing the heel of one foot directly in front of the toe of the other, just touching.
Crossover Walking
Walk sideways fro 3-4m, crossing one leg in front of the other, placing your feet parallel to each other with the toes level.
Stand on one leg, eyes closed
With your eyes closed and one hand resting on the back of a chair for support, stand on one leg for 30 seconds.
Repeat for the other leg.
To increase difficulty, add a mental task such as subtracting 75 from 200.
To further increase the difficulty, reduce the hand support from one hand to one finger to one fingertip to no hands.
(Source: Readers Digest)
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